WOMEN'S BOXING: Making the grade

'School Girl's' class bump paves way to U.S. national team

Not many people on the planet aim for a master's degree and an Olympic gold medal, but Centennial Hills resident Christina Kwan has both items on her things to do list.

After winning the 2004 Ringside World Boxing Championships in Kansas City, Mo., and the gold medal at the 2004 Women's National Championships in Spokane, Wash., this summer, Kwan is setting her sights on working even harder to achieve her ultimate goals.

In a sport known for its brute nature, the 23-year-old pugilist is aptly nicknamed "The School Girl" for her reputation as the one who focuses on education as well as fisticuffs. Kwan is a 2002 UNLV cum laude graduate with a bachelor's degree in marketing and plans on going for her master's degree in services marketing in January.

Kwan, who has a 22-1 lifetime record, always has fought at the 95-pound junior strawweight class, but is now moving up in weight in order to get more fights and valuable experience. At 101 pounds, the strawweight division, Kwan will be able to box with the U.S. women's national team whose international dual team meets only have fights starting at the 101-pound division.

"I've been working on gaining weight right now. I've been eating a little bit more steak," Kwan said. "I'm not as strict on my diet right now. I'm probably going to weigh about 105 pounds and then we'll take me back down to 101 that way I'll be a strong 101-pounder instead of being a blown-up 95-pounder."

With the added weight, Kwan has noticed that her strength has increased.

"I feel stronger. I'm really strong at 95 too but I think at 101 I'll feel a lot more strength, especially in the gym," she said. "I think if I can make 101 that it's a good weight for me."

The Vancouver, British Columbia, native moved to Seattle at age 7 and graduated from Shorecrest High School before attending UNLV and discovering boxing.

"When I walked into the UNLV gym and watched the sport I became interested," Kwan said. "I met Vinny (trainer Vincent Perozzi) there and he told me it wasn't going to be a one time or two times a week thing if I was really serious about pursuing it."

The relationship blossomed and has been extremely beneficial for both parties involved.

"Vinny really makes me study. We watch a lot of fight film. His favorite boxer is Roberto Duran. He makes me watch a lot of that," Kwan said. " When I fight, he doesn't want them to say it was a close match, he wants me to annihilate them. He never wants you to do just enough. He's an excellent trainer."

Under Perozzi's tutelage, Kwan has found her skills rapidly improving for someone who competed in her first tournament just two years ago. Perozzi has taught Kwan to keep her head moving when opponents are trying to knock her block off.

"A lot of girls don't move their head. If you ever watch any women's boxing, a lot of them don't move their head at all," Kwan said. "It's an easy target. I always move my head. It's makes it difficult for them to hit me."

Besides excelling in the ring, Kwan also excels in the business world as the owner of K.O. Casino Gaming Concepts, an endeavor that hosts gaming events that teach gamblers how to find an edge when battling the house odds.

"I'm really interested in the casino aspect. I have a gaming company as well where we teach people how to have an odds edge in craps," Kwan said. "We target the tour companies when they come in.

"A big focus for me are the Asian tourists that come in because there's a lot of them. It's good for me being that I'm Chinese and I can speak it. ... I think that it's a good niche for me. I'll travel to Asia and do gaming seminars over there."

And "over there," Beijing specifically, is where Kwan wants to be come 2008 when women's boxing officially becomes a medal sport in the Olympics. She's hoping all her hard training and bouts and education will get her there, where she hopes to become one of the first American women to medal in the sport.

"What makes it (the Olympics) more unique than anything else is that it's history-making. Turning pro and winning a championship isn't that big a thing for me," Kwan said. "There's a champion in every weight division right now. Women have been winning championships. But as far as the Olympics, no one's ever done that before. You'd be the first woman in that division to win a medal."

Kwan certainly understands the gravity of her possible future situation.

"The Olympics are the biggest platform in the world for sports. Millions, billions of people watch it. From a marketing standpoint, as well as exposure for me, it's the biggest thing I could possibly achieve I think," she said.

Having the Olympics welcome women to the sport is something Kwan and a lot of other amateur women boxers have been waiting for.

"I had great hope that it would become a medal sport. It really started solidifying between last year and this year," Kwan said. "Especially with them putting women's wrestling in the Olympics this year, I think it was a great move because to me it's an equivalent.

"There's women's tae kwon do and judo so why not boxing? It was a good move. After the Olympics I think it will change everything for women's boxing. I think it will become a more credible sport."

Next up for Kwan, and her first real test at 101 pounds, will be the Desert Showdown Invitational Amateur Boxing Championships at the Trump 29 Casino in Coachella, Calif., Oct. 21-24.

"I'm excited because the guy that runs the show told me that there were already a couple of girls at 101," Kwan said. "I definitely have a couple fights there already. I'm always prepared to fight."

Kwan is familiar with the aforementioned Trump, as in Donald, as she tried out to be a contestant on "The Apprentice 2." Although she was not chosen, Kwan hopes to be a candidate for season three and hopes her fists will open up Trump's eyes to her marketability next month.

"They said a third season was coming out and to watch out for that and maybe they could get me back in the mix. There's so many television producers, there's so many people that Trump probably hasn't even seen any of the audition tapes," Kwan said.

"I think it's a great business move as well as a great sports move to be there. He'll (Trump) be there for the finals on Oct. 24. Hopefully he'll be there watching. And if we can spot him, I will personally go hand my audition tape to him."

Kwan's dedication and confidence has put her in a situation where she is now weaving academics and athletics together in a life like few before her have ever have done. She gets just as excited talking about her education as she does her boxing career.

"I'm truly addicted to school I think. I really don't think I could live without it," Kwan said. "To me studying is not a chore. It's a part of life for me. I love it. And being in boxing, even if you do decide to pursue a career, it is a business. It's important to know all the aspects."

If Kwan can achieve her loftiest goal -- that of winning a gold medal in Beijing in 2008 -- the comparisons of her to her distant cousin figure skater Michelle Kwan -- winner of the silver medal in Nagano, Japan, in 1998 and the bronze medal in Salt Lake City in 2002 -- will be written about by sportswriters worldwide.

"We're not that close," Kwan said. "When the media first approached me they said, 'Hey you kind of look like Michelle Kwan. Are you guys cousins?' I said we are distant cousins, but I don't really keep in contact with her that much.

"They (the media) said 'We don't care if you're (cousins) 100 times removed, that's a little bit of a story.' I'm sure that she knows about me but I don't know how much she follows my career because she's got a great thing going for her. I do follow her, of course."

So with great bloodlines, a great education, a great attitude, a great work ethic and a great trainer it might seem that Kwan is on track to at least get a chance to attain her highest goal. And with Michelle winning a bronze and a silver medal, a gold medal for Christina would surely make the Kwan name one of the most legendary in the history of amateur sports.

Kwan can see the future clearly and it's coming up fast.

"Within the next few years we (amateur boxers) fight on the international circuit in 2005 ... in 2006 are the Intercontinental Games and then they we have the Pan-American Games and everything leads up to the Olympics," Kwan said. "To me it's not very far away at all."

And being of Chinese descent means that if Kwan can succeed in Beijing in 2008 she will have more than just Americans rooting for her to win. Kwan, who has absolutely no desire to turn pro, wants to help put amateur boxing on the map and is quite sure of her capabilities.

"We need women who can fight. We need women who can up the level of skill just to show that we can equal the men boxers in skill and show people that we can do it," Kwan said. "I train so hard in the gym. I really believe that I'm the best in the country."

Anyone interested in contacting Kwan or her camp can do so by e-mailing her at kwan_unlv_olympics2008@yahoo.com.


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